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Birth
Charlie Brooker was born on March 3, 1971 in Reading, Berkshire, England. He grew up in a relaxed Quaker household in the village of Bright well-cum-Sotwell, Oxfordshire. -
The start of his career
He first worked as a writer and cartoonist for Oink!, a comic produced in the late 1980s. After attending Wallingford School, he attended the Polytechnic of Central London (which became the University of Westminster during his time there), studying for a BA in Media Studies. He claims that he did not graduate because his dissertation was written on video games, which was not an acceptable topic.
Note: The year I put is when the comic was produced -
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Career (Print)
Brooker wrote for PC Zone magazine in the mid-1990s. Aside from games reviews, his output included the comic strip "Cybertwats". In February 1998, one of Brooker's one-shot cartoons caused the magazine to be pulled from the shelves of many British newsagents. The cartoon was titled "Helmut Werstler's Cruelty Zoo". On 24 October, 2004, he wrote a column on George W. Bush. In 2012 he contributed to the book Behind the Sofa: Celebrity Memories of Doctor Who. -
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Career (Online)
From 1999 to 2003 he wrote the satirical TVGoHome website, a regular series of mock TV schedules published in a format similar to that of the Radio Times, consisting of a combination of savage satire and surreal humor, and featured in technology newsletter Need To Know. A print adaptation of the site was published by Fourth Estate in 2001. A TV sketch show based on the site was broadcast on UK digital station E4 the same year. -
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Career (Television)
In 2006, Brooker began writing and presenting the television series Charlie Brooker's Screen wipe on BBC Four, a TV review programmed in a similar style to his Screen Burn columns in "The Guardian".
Brooker wrote Dead Set, a five-part zombie horror thriller for E4 set in the Big Brother house.
In December 2011, three episodes of Brooker's Black Mirror, a science fiction anthology series, aired on Channel 4 to largely positive reviews. -
Dead Set
During a fictional series of Big Brother, a zombie outbreak occurs, but the house-mates are unaware of the impending doom outside of the Big Brother House. -
Wipe
In 2006, Brooker began writing and presenting the television series Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe on BBC Four, a TV review programme in a similar style to his Screen Burn columns in The Guardian. It returned later in the year for a second run of four episodes. A third series followed in February 2007 with a fourth broadcast in September 2007, followed by a Review of the Year in December 2007. The fifth series started in November 2008 and was followed by another Review of the Year special. -
Appearances
In 2009, Brooker began hosting "You Have Been Watching", a panel comedy TV quiz on Channel 4 which discusses television. A second series was broadcast the following year. On 6 May 2010, Brooker was a co-host of the Channel 4 alternative election night, along with David Mitchell, Jimmy Carr and Lauren Laverne. The telethon was interspersed with contributions from Brooker, some live in the studio but mostly pre-recorded. -
The guardian
The Guardian is a British daily newspaper. It was known from 1821 until 1959 as the Manchester Guardian. Along with its sister papers,The Observer and the Guardian Weekly. The Guardian, is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the Scott Trust. The Trust was created in 1936 "To secure the financial and editorial independence of the Guardian in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of the Guardian free from commercial or political interference". -
Personal Life
Brooker became engaged to former Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq after dating for nine months, having met while filming an episode of Screenwipe. They married on July 26, 2010, at the Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas, Nevada. They have two sons: Huxley Brooker Huq and Covey Brooker Huq -
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Career (Radio)
On May 11, 2010, Brooker presented a 5-part BBC Radio 4 series celebrating failure titled "So Wrong It's Right", in which guests compete to pitch the worst possible ideas for new franchises and give the 'most wrong' answer to a question. Also featured are guests' memories about their own personal life failures and their complaints about life The second series began on 10 March 2011, and the third was broadcast in May 2012. In January 2018 he was the guest on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. -
British Comedy Awards and British Press Awards
He has received three British Comedy Awards: Best Newcomer in 2009, Best Comedy Entertainment Show Award for Newswipe in 2011 and Best Comedy Entertainment Personality in 2012. Brooker won the 2009 Columnist of the Year award at the British Press Awards for his Guardian column. -
San Junipero (Black Mirror)
The episode is set in 1987 in a beach resort town named San Junipero, where Yorkie, a shy woman , meets and falls in love with Kelly. The episode has received critical acclaim, with critics rating it highly in comparison to other episodes of the show; many critics believe it to be one of the best television episodes of 2016. It won two Primetime Emmy Awards, including the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie, as well as numerous other accolades and nominations. -
BAFTA Awards and Emmy Awards
Dead Set was nominated for the 2009 Best Drama Serial BAFTA. In 2017, Brooker won a Primetime Emmy Award for writing the Black Mirror episode ″San Junipero″.
